Al Franken received a potentially major boost towards his hopes of becoming Senator on Friday, when Minnesota state officials ruled that absentee ballots rejected because of clerical or administrative errors should, in the end, be counted.

The decision by the state canvassing board -- which was unanimous -- is, essentially, an official request for county officials to go back and count the wrongfully rejected absentee votes. This process has already begun in many counties and could portend sizeable gains for Franken.

The Democratic challenger has spent the past few weeks demanding that the state review the approximately 1,500 absentee ballots that they contend were unlawfully dismissed. Many of these votes have come from traditionally Democratic locales where, for one reason or another, voters are more likely to make clerical errors when completing their ballots.

"UPDATE: The Franken campaign got more good news from the canvass board hearing. The state had, during the recount process, been unable to locate 133 ballots from the Minneapolis area. But rather than disregarding these votes, officials decided that they will use the results from Election Day."

"UPDATE: The Franken campaign got more good news from the canvass board hearing. The state had, during the recount process, been unable to locate 133 ballots from the Minneapolis area. But rather than disregarding these votes, officials decided that they will use the results from Election Day."

Exactly how does one "recount" ballots that do not exist? The second ruling is illegal as hell. Unless a ballot exists then one doe not just go with election night count, DUH , if we did that, WHY have a recount?

Fox 9&#8217;s Tom Lyden reports that U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and his wife, Laurie, were in the midst of a major home remodeling project in the spring of 2007, at the same time that a Texas firm controlled by Coleman benefactor Nasser Kazeminy was making payments to the insurance firm where Laurie Coleman works. The $328,000 project, which included the kitchen seen in a campaign ad, went over budget by $86,000 &#8212; a sum that is in the range of the amount that Deep Marine Technology directed to Laurie Coleman&#8217;s employer, the Hays Companies ($75,000, plus another $25,000 payment that was canceled).

So there is a circumstantial link between the payments and the house costs, a potential motive for Kazeminy to steer a sum like that to the Colemans, as two lawsuits allege and the FBI is now looking into. (The Republican senator has denied the charge and welcomed the investigation.) But it&#8217;s not yet a &#8220;gotcha&#8221; &#8212; as Lyden admits in a blog post. Like MnIndy, Fox 9 had been sniffing around Colemans&#8217; remodeling project in relation to the Texas charges since before Election Day. Video, transcript and property tax record after the jump.

Another interesting tidbit: The Colemans paid a campaign donor $33,000 for design services on the project.

Fox 9s Tom Lyden reports that U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and his wife, Laurie, were in the midst of a major home remodeling project in the spring of 2007, at the same time that a Texas firm controlled by Coleman benefactor Nasser Kazeminy was making payments to the insurance firm where Laurie Coleman works. The $328,000 project, which included the kitchen seen in a campaign ad, went over budget by $86,000  a sum that is in the range of the amount that Deep Marine Technology directed to Laurie Colemans employer, the Hays Companies ($75,000, plus another $25,000 payment that was canceled).

So there is a circumstantial link between the payments and the house costs, a potential motive for Kazeminy to steer a sum like that to the Colemans, as two lawsuits allege and the FBI is now looking into. (The Republican senator has denied the charge and welcomed the investigation.) But its not yet a gotcha  as Lyden admits in a blog post. Like MnIndy, Fox 9 had been sniffing around Colemans remodeling project in relation to the Texas charges since before Election Day. Video, transcript and property tax record after the jump.

Another interesting tidbit: The Colemans paid a campaign donor $33,000 for design services on the project.

I don't understand this. Someone wants to remodel a gorgeous house. Ok, great. How much is it going to cost and how long will it take?

You get that on paper in writing and proceed if acceptable. If it costs more than they said it would, you take them to court. You don't just get $86,000 out of public programs and funnel it to the remodeling project for your house!!

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